Methanol to Gasoline (MTG)Production of Clean Gasoline from Coal

So Advanced, Yet So Simple.

Company ProfileExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded integrated petroleum and natural gas company. Our company and its affiliates are present on a global scale.We operate facilities and market products around the world, and explore for oil and natu-ral gas on six continents. We lead the industry in almost every aspect of the energy and petrochemical business.

To help meet the world’s growing energy needs, ExxonMobil is involved in the exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas; the manufacture of petroleum products; and the transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products. We are a major manufacturer and marketer of commodity and specialty petrochemicals and have interests in electric power generation facilities. Our extensive research programs support operations, enable continuous improvement in each of these businesses, and explore emerging energy sources and technologies.

DownstreamExxonMobil’s network of reliable and efficient manufacturing plants, trasnportation sys-tems, and distribution centers provides clean fuels, lubricants, and other high-value prod-ucts and feedstocks to customers around the world. ExxonMobil has interests in 38 re-fineries located in 21 countries and markets its products through more than 32,000 retail service stations. Our products and services are also provided to nearly 1 million customers worldwide through our three business-to-business segments: Industrial and Wholesale, Aviation, and Marine. In 2007, refinery throughput averaged 5.6 million barrels per day, and petroleum product sales were 7.1 million barrels per day. ExxonMobil is the world’s No. 1 supplier of lube basestocks and a leader in marketing finished lubricants, asphalt, and spe-cialty products. Worldwide, we market products under Exxon, Mobil and Esso brands.

TechnologyMany natural resources are found in remote areas with difficult operating environments. The complexity of these environments places greater emphasis on technological innova-tion. Over the past five years, ExxonMobil has invested about $3.5 billion in research. As new technologies are developed, our global functional organization enables rapid deploy-ment and value capture. We have remained an industry leader in technology by focusing on both breakthrough concepts and process modifications that enhance performance across our business lines.

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High energy prices and volatility in 2008 have helped to spur worldwide interest in finding and developing additional sources of energy to meet increasing demand. Coal is expected to play a key role as an energy source in the rapidly growing economy in countries such as China, India and even the United States, in the coming decades, despite its higher CO2 intensity.To meet the need to increase supply while protecting the environment, continued technology advances will be needed. One such consideration is the conversion of coal into high quality, clean-burning transportation fuel.

There are two commercially demonstrated routes for converting coal to transportation fuels through gasification (Figure 1). The first is the widely known Fischer-Tropsch process, discovered in the 1920’s. It has been commercially practiced in several different forms to produce fuels from either coal or natural gas.

Less known, is another commercially proven alternative for converting coal to gasoline through methanol. ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s (EMRE) Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) process converts coal to high quality clean gasoline when coupled with commercially proven coal gasification and methanol synthesis technology. Exxon Mobil developed the methanol-to-gasoline process (MTG) in the 1970’s and commercialized the technology in New Zealand in the mid-1980’s. MTG gasoline is fully compatible with conventional refinery gasoline. MTG gasoline can be either blended with conventional refinery gasoline or sold separately with minimal further processing.

A third option for coal conversion, direct coal liquefaction, is also attracting renewed attention due to the 2008 start up of a commercial plant by Shenhua, a Chinese coal company, in Inner Mongolia. Although similar processes were demonstrated in the US at much smaller demonstration scales, no commercial plants were ever built or operated for direct coal liquefaction. Though the direct liquefaction route does not require synthe-sis gas feed, it does require the addition of hydrogen which would typically be produced from a separate coal gasification step. Also, the hydrocarbon fractions produced would require significant upgrading to commercial quality fuels products such as gasoline and diesel.

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Both the Fisher-Tropsch and MTG processes convert coal into synthesis gas before converting it to the final liquid products. However, their respective product slates are very different. The Fisher-Tropsch process produces a broad spectrum of straight-chain paraffinic hydrocarbons that requires upgrading to produce commercial quality gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. In contrast, MTG selectively converts methanol to one liquid product: a very low sulfur, low benzene regular octane gasoline.

Due to the unique low sulfur and low benzene characteristics of the MTG gasoline product, it can be a valuable blending component for meeting environmental regulations specific to sulfur and benzene.

A recent surge in Coal to Liquid (CTL) activities has renewed market interest in MTG technology. The current MTG technology represents an advance beyond the technology commercialized in New Zealand in the mid-1980’s The improvements result from programs undertaken by EMRE in the 1990’s that reduce both capital investment and operating expenses. Construction of the first coal-to-gasoline process via MTG technology is underway in China by Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group (JAMG).

Both coal gasification and methanol synthesis are mature tech-nologies with several commercially established routes for both steps. This brochure will provide an update of developments regarding the MTG process and the recent commercial activities for the production of gasoline from coal.

MTG chemistryMethanol to Gasoline chemistry was discovered by Exxon-Mobil scientists in the 1970’s. However, it took many years of extensive studies to fully understand the detailed chemistry

LPG

LightGasoline

Finished

Gasoline

TreatedGasolineHeavy

Gasoline

DME ReactorMTG Reactor

(Multiple)

Blending

Compressor

C2-

StabilizedGasoline

LPG

DeEthanier Stabilizer StabilizerSplitter HGT Reactor

FinishedGasoline

LPG

Light

Gasoline

Treated

Gasoline

Heavy

Gasoline

MTG Reactor System

(Multiple)

C2-

Stabilized

Gasoline

LPG

DeEthanizer

Stabilizer

Stabilizer Splitter

HGT Reactor

Methanol

Purge Gas

Gasoline

H2O

behind the reaction. Methanol is first dehydrated to dimethyl-ether (DME). Then an equilibrium mixture of methanol, DME and water is converted to light olefins (C2-C4). A final reaction step leads to the synthesis of higher olefins, n/iso-paraffins, aroma-tics and naphthenes. The shape selective MTG catalyst limits the hydrocarbon synthesis to C10 and lighter.

Methanol to Gasoline processIn the MTG process, the conversion of methanol to hydrocar-bons and water is virtually complete and essentially stoichio-metric. The reaction is exothermic with a heat of reaction of about 1.74 MJ/kg of methanol. In the fixed bed process com-mercialized in New Zealand plant, the reaction is managed by splitting the conversion into two parts. A schematic of the pro-cess is shown in Figure 2. In the first part, methanol is converted to an equilibrium mixture of methanol, dimethylether, and water. This step releases 15-20% of the overall heat of reaction and is controlled by chemical equilibrium. As such, it is inherently stable.

In the second step, the equilibrium mixture is mixed with recycle gas and passed over specially designed ZSM-5 catalyst to pro-duce hydrocarbons and water. Most of the hydrocarbon prod-ucts are in the gasoline range. Most of the gas is recycled to the ZSM-5 reactor. The water phase contains 0.1-0.2 wt% oxygen-ates which can be treated by conventional biological means.

The conversion reactor inlet temperatures are controlled indi-vidually by adjusting the flow of reactor effluent to the recycle gas / reactor effluent heat exchangers and by adjusting the temperature difference across exchangers. Reactor effluent is also used to preheat, vaporize and superheat the methanol feed to the DME reactor.

Reactor effluent is then further cooled to 25-35°C and passed to the product separator where gas, liquid hydrocarbon and water separate. The gas phase (mostly light hydrocarbons) is re-turned to the recycle gas compressor. The water phase can be sent to effluent treatment or recycled within the CTL complex. The liquid hydrocarbon product (raw gasoline) contains mainly gasoline boiling range material as well as dissolved hydrogen, carbon dioxide and light hydrocarbons (C1–C4). Essentially all of the non-hydrocarbons, C1, C2, C3 and part of the C4 hydrocarbons are removed by distillation to produce gasoline that meets the required volatility specifications. Methane, ethane and some propane are removed in a de-ethanizer. The liquid product from the de-ethanizer is then sent to a stabilizer where propane and part of the butane components are removed over-head (to fuel gas). Stabilized gasoline is then passed to a gaso-line splitter where it is separated into light and heavy gasoline fractions.

4Figure 2. EMRE MTG Process Flow Diagram

made by ExxonMobil in the late 1990’s leading to a second generation technology.

The second generation technology incorporates significant im-provements that are derived from the operation of the New Zea-land plant. These significantly reduce the number of heaters, size of heat exchanges, and compressor requirements through better heat integration and process optimization. The combina-tion of the improvements translates into a prospective capital reduction of 15-20% versus the original design.

MTG gasoline contains 1, 2, 4, 5-tetramethyl benzene (durene) at a higher level than conventional gasoline. A maximum durene limit for MTG gasoline is established to ensure drivability/perfor-mance. Durene is concentrated in the heavy gasoline fraction of a gasoline splitter and then subjected to a mild hydrofinish-ing process over a proprietary ExxonMobil catalyst in the heavy gasoline treater. The product is obtained in nearly quantitative yield with virtually unaltered octane but with greatly reduced du-rene content.

commercial success of theNew Zealand MTG operationBy all accounts, the start-up of the New Zealand operation was a complete success for a world scale, first of its kind plant. The first methanol unit was brought on stream on October 12, 1985 and achieved design rate within two days. The first gasoline was produced on October 17, 1985. The second methanol unit was commissioned on December 12th. Subsequently addition-al MTG reactors were streamed and the complex was oper-ated at 100% of design capacity by December 27, 1985. The MTG plant was an excellent example of the ability to success-fully scale up a plant from a small pilot plant (500 kg/d to 1700 t/d). Production yields (Figure 3), product qualities and catalyst performance were consistent with all estimates developed from the pilot plant data.

A comparison of the average gasoline properties and the range during the first year of MTG operation is provided (Table 1.) It is clear that the operation is very predictable and stable with little variation in the product. It is also interesting to compare the MTG gasoline properties with today’s refinery gasoline. Table 2 compares the MTG gasoline properties with the average prop-erties of conventional gasoline sold in the US markets in 2005. The two are virtually identical with the only noticeable difference being MTG gasoline’s lower benzene content and essentially zero sulfur.

second generation MTG technologyThe current technology is based on the original MTG process developed by ExxonMobil in the 1980’s, with improvements

5

Summer2005

0.95

58.4

27.7

12

8.3

211.1

330.7

106

1.21

Winter2005

1.08

61.9

24.7

11.6

12.12

199.9

324.1

97

1.15

61.8

26.5

12.6

9

201

320

0

0.3

MTGGasoline

Oxygen (WI%)

API Gravity

Aromatics (% Vol)

Olefins (% Vol)

RVP (psi)

T50 (F)

T90 (F)

Sulfur (ppm)

Benzene (% Vol)

*Oxygen is from oxygenate blending post refining.

12 RVPGA

SO

LIN

E Y

IELD

, WT%

OF

HC

75

80

85

90

95

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Average

92.2

82.6

85

730

325

2

31.5

53.2

94.9

204.5

Range

92.0-92.5

82.2-83.0

82-90

728-733

260-370

1.74-2.29

29.5-34.5

51.5-55.5

94-96.5

196-209

Octane Number, RON

Octane Number, MON

Reid Vapor Pressure, kPa

Density, kg/m3

Induction Period, min.

Durene Content, wt%

Distillation

% Evaporation at 70° C

% Evaporation at 100° C

% Evaopration at 180° C

End Point, °C

Although it is well documented that the original MTG chemistry was developed based on ZSM-5 zeolite, it is worth mentioning that the MTG chemistry is also very specific to certain aspects of ZSM-5 properties. In fact, over one hundred different zeolites were tested during the original MTG technology devel-opment. Since the commercialization of the MTG process over twenty years ago, EMRE has continued R&D efforts and made significant improvements in zeolite applications and manufac-turing capabilities. Many of the new learnings are readily ap-plicable to the MTG process and will significantly improve MTG catalyst performance.

The first second generation MTG plant is now under construc-tion in China by Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group (JAMG). The MTG plant is part of a demonstration scale complex which also includes a coal gasification plant and a methanol plant. The ini-tial phase of the plant is designed for a gasoline capacity of

100,000 t/a, but it is expected to expand to 1,000,000 t/a for the second stage of the project. Start up of the first phase is expected early 2009.

EMRE and DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC (DKRW) announced in December 2007 the first U.S. CTL license based on MTG technology. DKRW, through its subsidiary Medicine Bow Fuel and Power LLC, plans to use EMRE’s MTG technology for its 15,000 BPD CTL plant in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. In Sep-tember, 2008, Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (SES), a global gasification company, and EMRE announced an agreement that provides SES the option to execute up to 15 MTG units at its coal gasification plants globally.

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advantages of the methanol-to-gasoline optionProject development for CTL is a highly complex process that requires companies to consider many diverse factors when making the technology decision. MTG, as a commercially proven technology, offers a unique option which improves the attractiveness for many CTL projects.

product simplicityAs previously discussed, both the MTG and Fisher-Tropsch processes convert coal into synthesis gas as an intermediary before producing the final products. However, their respective product slates are very different.

The Fisher-Tropsch process produces a broad spectrum of straight-chain paraffinic hydrocarbon which requires upgrading to produce finished products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, and lube base stocks. Due to the complexity of the product distribution, the economic justification for fur-ther upgrading/processing of all the products improves for large scale projects (e.g. 50-80K BPD.)

MTG, in contrast, selectively converts methanol to high quality gasoline with virtually no sulfur and low benzene which can be sold as is or blended in the refinery gasoline pool. About 90% of the hydrocarbon in methanol is converted to gasoline as the single liquid product, with the remainder primarily LPG. Table 3 is a comparison of MTG products vs. reported product

distribution from both the low temperature and high tempera-ture Fischer-Tropsch process reported by Sasol and coal liq-uefaction yields from H-Coal process reported by HRI. In both cases, the liquid products require hydrocracking/hydrotreating and other reforming processes before the liquid products can be used as transportation fuels.

technical riskThe MTG process converts methanol to high quality gasoline. When coupled with commercially proven coal gasification and methanol synthesis technology, MTG offers a commercially proven route for the production of clean gasoline from coal.

process simplicityThe MTG process uses a conventional gas phase fixed bed reactor which can be scaled up very readily. In the first commer-cial application in New Zealand, the process was successfully scaled up from 500 kg/d to 1,700,000 kg/d. On theother hand, most of the technology advancement for the new Fisher-Tropsch technology options relies on slurry phase reactors which are inherently more complex. Scale-up of slurry phase reactor requires significantly more sophisticated demonstration and modeling in the absence of direct commer-cial operational experience.

summaryInterests in coal to clean transportation fuel technology will con-tinue as an alternative to petroleum refining. EMRE’s commer-cially proven Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) technology, coupled with established commercial coal gasification and methanol technologies provides an economically competitive and low risk option for the production of clean gasoline from coal.

Low Temp FT*

Co Catalyst@ 428F

5

0

1

2

1

2

1

19

22

46

1

100

High Temp FT*

Fe Catalyst@ 644F

8

4

3

11

2

9

1

36

16

5

5

100

H Coal TM**

DirectLiquefication

36.5

43.2

20

0.3

100

MTG***

0.7

-

0.4

0.2

4.3

1.1

10.9

82.3

-

-

0.1

100

Methane

Ethylene

Ethane

Propylene

Propane

Butylenes

Butane

C5 - 160C

Distillates

Heavy Oil/Wax

Water Sol. Oxygenates

Total

NoC1-C4yields

reported.

* Steyberg & Dry. “Fischer Tropsch Technology”, Elsevier, 2004 (All FT yields are prior to refining for gasoline octane, and diesel pour point improvement)** H-Coal data from HRI 1982 publication*** Final plant product with gasoline Octane 92 R+O

Table 3. MTG Gasoline vs. Fischer-Tropsch Products

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